Spain Hands former Venezuelan military intelligence chief over to Washington

Spain handed over former Venezuelan military intelligence chief General Hugo Armando Carvajal to the United States on Wednesday, where he faces charges of drug trafficking.

US officials have been pursuing Carvajal, who served as the head of military intelligence during the tenure of the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, on suspicion of supporting drug trafficking operations conducted by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in Colombia.

Prosecutors in New York allege that Carvajal used his high-ranking position in 2006 to coordinate the smuggling of approximately 5,600 kilograms of cocaine from Venezuela to the United States via Mexico.

The prosecutors also believe that the 63-year-old general, known by the nickname "El Pollo" or "The Chicken," may possess evidence incriminating Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro as Chavez's successor.

Damian Williams, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, confirmed in a statement that Carvajal would appear before a federal court in Manhattan on Thursday.

Williams stated, "After many years on the run from justice and over a decade of criminal conduct, Hugo Armando Carvajal Barrios has arrived in the United States today to face justice for his alleged crimes."

He added that Carvajal is accused of "abusing his position as the director of Venezuelan military intelligence to corrupt Venezuelan institutions, harm the Venezuelan people, and traffic narcotics into the United States."

Carvajal's lawyer, Maria Dolores de Armas, and judicial sources had earlier confirmed to Agence France-Presse that Carvajal had left Spain en route to the United States.

This move comes after the European Court of Human Rights rejected Carvajal's appeal against his extradition last week, stating that it was not demonstrated that he faced a "real risk" of being sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole in the United States.

Following the court's decision, the Spanish National Court responsible for the extradition issued an order to Interpol on Tuesday to "immediately surrender Carvajal" to US authorities.

Carvajal has repeatedly denied any links to drug traffickers or the FARC movement.

The Maduro administration stripped him of his rank after he declared his support for opposition leader Juan Guaido in February 2019.

He subsequently fled Venezuela and was initially arrested in Spain in April 2019 but was later released on the grounds that the US extradition request was "politically motivated."

The decision was later overturned, but Carvajal had gone into hiding.

When he was arrested again in Madrid in September 2021, the police stated that he had remained in Spain throughout his time on the run, frequently changing his place of residence and undergoing cosmetic surgery to evade capture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AFP